I Alone Level-Up

"His skin looks pretty tough… Wonder if I could damage it with this dagger."

The dagger had a shorter reach than the sword he used in the Instant Dungeon. To inflict a deep wound with it, he would have to use a lot of strength. He flipped his grip on the dagger, holding it downwards. This way, he felt like it"d be easier to do damage with it.

grrl...

The spider stopped before Jinwoo. It raised its two front legs. Outstretched at its sides, its figure looked like a giant X from the front.

"What is it trying to-"

Slam!

If he did not instinctively move his body, his chest would"ve been pierced by the spider"s leg. The spider quickly retracted its leg from the ground and a.s.sumed the striking position again. Bits and pieces of rock fell from the tip of his legs.

Jinwoo made a quick glance behind him. The ground made of stone had a hole in it.

"If I get hit by that, it won"t end in just pain."

His eyes flashed with readiness. It was time to focus.

"Here it comes again!"

wooooosh-!

He began to be able to see the legs that previously moved like bullets.

Left.

He lowered his head, evading a leg.

Right.

Turning his body to the side, he dodged the spider"s right leg and advanced a step.

Right again.

The leg aimed for his head again and was dodged. Jinwoo took two more steps.

Left. Right. Right. Left. Right. Right. Right. Left. Left.

slam! slam! slam! slam! slam! slam! slam! slam! slam!

The sound of the spider"s legs striking the ground stung his ears; bits and pieces of the ground flew in all directions. Dodging the rain of a.s.sault, Jinwoo closed the gap with each step he took.

-

Yoo Jinho could not believe his eyes.

"Who- who the h.e.l.l is he?"

Even from a distance, the spider"s attacks raised the hair on the back of his head. And this man was evading all the attacks while closing the gap at the same time. Jinwoo"s body that made no wasted movements was chilling.

"That"s an E-rank Hunter?"

No. There was no way.

If he was standing in the place of Sung Jinwoo, his body would"ve been torn apart like rags. He did not have the confidence to dodge a single attack. But Jinwoo was doing so without a single mistake. An E-rank pulling off something that was impossible for a D-rank?

There was only one answer.

"...A false ranker!" [1]

Yoo Jinho"s face darkened. Of the skilled Hunters, there were those that could control their own magic power. If they wanted, they could even hide their own rank. Purposely lowering their magic power, they would receive a lower rank than they should.

These people were called "false rankers". Most of them were known for their malicious intents.

"I heard they were serial killers who enjoyed slaughtering low ranked Hunters in lower ranked Dungeons…"

Since only the people who had partic.i.p.ated in the Raid would know what happened in the Dungeon, it was the perfect place to commit a crime.

Yoo Jinho gulped. Suddenly, Jinwoo was scarier than the spider.

"Why did I come here…"

He felt like crying.

-

woos.h.!.+ woos.h.!.+ woos.h.!.+

The spider continued its attacks relentlessly. Jinwoo became confident of his victory as he dodged the attacks. As he closed the gap, bit by bit, the spider"s head entered his range. Due to the simple pattern of the spider"s attacks, he did not have that much difficulty.

"First. Eyes."

Attacking the weakness of a magic beast was a Raid fundamental. So he chose the eyes, which looked like the softest target.

"Now to stab its eyes!"

It was as he made the decision. The spider"s attacks seemed to slow down.

woos.h.!.+ woos.h.!.+

Did he get used to the attacks?

slam! slam!

No. That was not it.

His eyes may be tricked, but not his ears. The sound of the attacks striking the ground had definitely slowed a beat. Even before his strengthening, Jinwoo was confident of his hearing. An uneasy feeling washed over him.

Looking closer, Jinwoo saw the spider"s mandibles twitching.

"Why would it open its mouth in this timing?"

Jinwoo, who was about to leap 3 meters towards the spider"s head, felt that something was off. Trusting his instincts, he jumped to the side, instead of up.

shaaaaa!

The spider spat out a murky fluid from its mouth. Jinwoo rolled on the ground, got back on his feet and looked behind him.

The s.p.a.ce where he was standing was now smoking and turning black.

s.h.i.+-

The stone that made up the ground was melting.

Jinwoo gulped.

"If I jumped at its head just now…"

The stone would not be the only thing melting.

Sensing his agitation, the spider quickly turned towards Jinwoo.

skitter skitter skitter

The spider was already before him as he raised his head.

woos.h.!.+

Jinwoo jumped up from his spot, dodging the spider"s leg.

slam!

Its attack had started up again.

"s.h.i.+t!"

He made the same movements as before, getting closer to the spider but was driven off again by the acid attack. As another move was added to the spider"s attack pattern, the situation became difficult.

Acid if he got too close.

Legs if he kept his distance.

"f.u.c.k!"

Frustrated, Jinwoo tried attacking the legs. But his dagger could not even scratch the tough chitinous exterior.

Jinwoo bit his lips.

"This is not going well."

While the spider was just using its two front legs to attack, Jinwoo was evading with his entire body. It was obvious who would tire first.

"Fatigue."

Fatigue: 57

As expected, his fatigue was rapidly rising. If it hit 70, his speed would slow down. Above 90, his breath would seize and it would become difficult to move. Jinwoo was running out of time.

"If I can just be a little faster…"

Speed.

Speed was the problem.

slam! slam! slam! slam!

"Wait, speed?"

As he dodged the attacks by a hair"s breadth, a thought flashed across Jinwoo"s mind.

"Right! There was that!"

The only active skill at his disposal. He had forgotten about it until now, not having needed it.

"Sprint!"

Sprint has been activated.

Your movement speed is increased by 30%.

While active, 1 mana will be used up every minute.

Accompanying the message, Jinwoo"s body became faster as if a booster was applied. It became a lot easier to dodge the spider"s attacks.

woos.h.!.+ woos.h.!.+ woos.h.!.+

slam! slam! slam!

Dodging the lightning-like strikes of the spider legs, Jinwoo quickly came in front of the spider again. Panicking, the spider sprayed the acid once more.

shaaaaa!

But to the sped-up Jinwoo, a breathing room appeared in his movements. Easily dodging the acid spray, Jinwoo jumped towards the spider"s head.

slas.h.!.+

The dagger flashed across the spider"s eyes.

Paralysis has been inflicted.

The target"s resistance was too high. Effect cancelled.

Bleeding has been inflicted.

The target will lose 1% health per second.

"Good!"

The special effect of the dagger, Casaka"s Poisoned Fang, was successfully applied.

screeeech!

The spider howled and twisted its body. Jinwoo did not miss the opportunity. Landing on the ground, he immediately jumped on to the spider"s body and moved towards the head. The spider thrashed about and tried to get him with its legs, but Jinwoo was not about to be caught by a blind attack.

slam! slam! slam!

Only the poor ground was turned into swiss cheese.

On top of its head, Jinwoo repeatedly attacked the remaining eyes.

stab! stab! stab!

screeeech!

stab! stab!

screeeeeeeeech!

The spider shook its body side to side, but Jinwoo held on and continued put holes in the spider"s head. It began to falter. The damage was being done. Jinwoo"s hands became faster.

Eventually, the spider"s giant body finally slammed on to the ground.

Boom!

But Jinwoo still kept going. Until its life was snuffed out.

stab! stab! stab!

krrrrl-

With its death rattle, messages appeared.

You"ve defeated the boss[2] of the Dungeon.

You"ve leveled up!

You"ve leveled up!

You"ve leveled up!

"Yes!"

Covered in the spider"s blood, Jinwoo raised his hands to the sky. Having defeated a boss, his levels went up by an impressive amount of three.

"Status screen."

Name: Sung Jinwoo

Level: 21

Cla.s.s: None

t.i.tle: Wolf Slayer

HP: 2600

MP: 391

Fatigue: 0

Stats

Strength: 53

Const.i.tution: 30

Agility: 38

Intelligence: 30

Sense: 32

(Available stat points: 0)

Skills

Pa.s.sive Skills

-(Unknown) (Lv. Max)

-Unyielding Spirit (Lv. 1)

Active Skills

-Sprint (Lv. 1)

He went from level 18 to 21 in a leap. And that was not it. Another message accompanied the level-up messages.

ring~

You"ve leveled up past level 20. The "buy" function of the shop is now enabled.

"I can finally use my gold."

It was a good news. But there was no time to dilly dally and use the shop here.

shake-

The cave began to shake.

Because the Dungeon"s boss has been defeated, the Gate[3] will be destroyed in 1 hour.

Remaining time: 59 min 58 sec

He had to leave before the Gate closed after all. There would be plenty of time to take a look at the shop outside. Halfway down the body, Jinwoo noticed a s.h.i.+ny light in the middle of the spider"s head.

"Item?"

But compared to a monster"s drop, there was no item message, and he could not automatically obtain whatever it was.

What is it?

Briefly thinking about it, Jinwoo quickly realized.

"Ah, right. Magic cores."

No matter how hurried he was, he couldn"t forget those. He went to the spider"s head and ripped out the magic core. Coming from the boss of a C-rank Dungeon, it was worth about 10 million won. It was not a bad reward for the troublesome fight.

Jinwoo leaped down from the spider"s head. After a light landing, he took a glance backwards and noticed another source of light from the spider"s abdomen. And multiple of them, too!

Jinwoo became suspicious. He had heard of magic beasts with extra magic cores, but this was too many.

"What could it be?"

Cutting open the spider"s body, he found his answer. The corpses of many half-eaten bug magic beasts fell out of the stomach. The light was coming from each of the bugs.

"Maybe..."

Going from bug to bug, he found a magic core in each of them. Some of them were smaller due to being digested, but many more were in perfect condition. Combined, he obtained 10 more magic cores.

"Awesome!"

He came here for rent money. He would walk away with a mortgage.

"Hyungnim."

Turning around, he saw Yoo Jinho.

"Please, you can put them here."

Yoo Jinho took the magic cores and placed them in his own pack with great care. Then, he took out a thermos and poured something out in its cap.

"Hyungnim. You"re thirsty, right? Here"s some water."

The water was cold enough to collect condensation on the cup.

"Why is he doing all this?"

Translator"s Notes:

[1]: "false ranker" (부정 등록자): Lit. "illegal/dishonest" 부정 + "registrant/a registered person" 등록자. Based on the context, I felt like a "false ranker" was a better fit.

[2]: "boss" (주인): The word used here actually does not mean boss at all. 주인 means "owner" or "master". I subst.i.tuted boss for context.

[3]: "gate" (던전의 입구): Again, word used here is not "gate", but "Dungeon"s entrance". Context reasons to shorten the phrasing.